[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 24 (Wednesday, March 1, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E248-E250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DEDICATION OF THE ST. PETERSBURG PARKWAY/WILLIAM C. CRAMER MEMORIAL 
                                HIGHWAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN L. MICA

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 1, 2006

  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, today the St. Petersburg Parkway/William C. 
Cramer Memorial Highway will be dedicated in St. Petersburg, Florida. 
Bill became a trusted friend to many

[[Page E249]]

while serving in this House and today's celebration is a reflection of 
his service to the State of Florida.
  The Honorable William C. Cramer served in the U.S. House of 
Representatives for sixteen years, from 1955 to 1971, representing the 
St. Petersburg/Tampa area. During his service in Congress, Bill Cramer 
became the ranking minority member of the House Public Works Committee 
and he co-authored the 1956 Interstate and Defense Highway Act. That 
Act was the catalyst for the nation's interstate highway system, 
setting the authorized mileage at 41,000 miles and establishing the 
highway trust fund to pay for construction of the system.
  Those 41,000 miles, however, did not include an interstate link from 
Tampa around (I-75) and through St. Petersburg (I-275), down the west 
coast of Florida (I-75) to Alligator Alley and across to Miami. During 
his tenure in Congress, Cramer labored tirelessly to add this ``missing 
link'' to the interstate highway system, and he succeeded in that 
effort in his final term as a capstone to his congressional service. In 
the Howard-Cramer Amendment of 1968 and the 1968 Federal Aid Highway 
Act, Cramer was able to add the mileage needed to build Florida's 
missing interstate links, and he also secured final approval to 
construct those links from two successive administrations.
  Former Congressman Cramer passed away in October of 2003. Late in 
April of 2004, the Florida Legislature enacted HB 9, and on May 13, 
2004, the Governor signed that Act into law. HB 9 designated the 
portion of I-275 between the Howard Frankland Bridge and the Sunshine 
Skyway as the ``St. Petersburg/William C. Cramer Parkway,'' upon 
approval of the affected local governments. In 2005, the Florida 
Legislature enacted, and the Governor signed into law, HB 385 that 
changed the designation to the ``St. Petersburg Parkway/William C. 
Cramer Memorial Highway.'' This honor is an appropriate and well-
deserved recognition of Bill Cramer's pivotal role as the ranking 
minority member of the House Public Works Committee in authorizing and 
securing the funding for not only I-275 through St. Petersburg, but 
also the other critical west coast sections of Florida's Interstate 
Highway system.

  Bill Cramer came from humble beginnings, his family moving to St. 
Petersburg before he and his brother and sisters entered the public 
schools. He sold fruit on street corners and was an usher at the 
Florida Theatre as a youngster to raise money, and he graduated from 
St. Petersburg High School, serving as student council president. He 
went on to graduate from St. Petersburg Junior College, where he also 
served as class president. As did so many men and women, he left his 
hometown to serve his country as an officer in the U.S. Navy during 
World War II. Cramer then finished college, and after graduating from 
Harvard Law School he returned home to St. Petersburg to practice law. 
Almost immediately he jumped into public service, being appointed 
Pinellas County attorney before his election to the Florida Legislature 
and subsequently his election to the U.S. Congress. While in Congress, 
he dedicated his career to building the basic infrastructure of the 
county, the roads, harbors, airports and public buildings that are 
crucial to the growth of our nation's economy. In particular, he 
focused on bringing the economic benefits of the interstate highway 
system to the Tampa-St. Petersburg and southwest Florida areas.
  After retiring from his active law practice, Cramer returned to St. 
Petersburg College and the University of South Florida to teach courses 
in Government. He strove to instill in his young students his passion 
for service and his conviction that through hard work and perseverance 
everyone, no matter their circumstances, has a chance to help build a 
better and more promising future for their community, state and nation. 
Bill Cramer's was a life well lived, and there is no more fitting 
memorial for him that to have the highway he built for his hometown 
named in his honor.
  What follows is a brief outline of how Bill Cramer led Congress and 
two administrations to authorize and fund Florida's interstate 
``missing links''
  From his position as the ranking minority member of the House Public 
Works Committee and its Roads Subcommittee, Cramer worked for years to 
try and add the west coast Florida ``missing links'' to the interstate 
system. In introducing a bill early in 1967 to designate this route as 
an interstate, Cramer stated on the House Floor on January 16, 1967, 
that ``this missing link is one of the most obvious inadequacies in the 
interstate system.'' He went on to note ``it is essential that a new 
interstate highway be constructed so that interstate traffic presently 
terminating in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area can be funneled down the 
lower west coast to the Ft. Lauderdale-Miami area.''
  Although this specific designation bill was not enacted, Cramer 
persisted and he and Congressman James Howard (D-N.J.) introduced H.R. 
13933 in November of 1967. This bill addressed the practical problem 
that almost no interstate mileage remained to be designated from the 
41,000 miles originally authorized by the 1956 Interstate and Defense 
Highway Act. H.R. 13933, which became known as the Howard-Cramer Act, 
added 200 miles to the 41,000-mile interstate system, to be applied for 
by various states to fill in missing links and gaps. The law stipulated 
that priority consideration should be given to extension of routes that 
terminated in a municipality, a condition then existing in the Tampa-
St. Petersburg area. The President signed the Howard-Cramer Act on 
January 2, 1968.

  Cramer understood that the 200 new interstate miles in the Howard-
Cramer Act would be aggressively pursued by states across the nation, 
and that additional mileage was needed to achieve his dream of 
completing Florida's missing links. The 1968 Federal Aid Highway bill 
provided the ideal opportunity to accomplish this goal.
  As ranking minority member of the Committee, Cramer crafted this bill 
that reauthorized the interstate highway program, provided for 
beautification of the nation's highways and established new rights and 
benefits for those displaced by highway construction, among many other 
important milestones. Of central importance to Cramer was a further 
expansion of the authorized mileage in the interstate system to 
accommodate construction of Florida's missing links. The House-Senate 
Conference Committee approved adding an additional 1,500 miles to the 
interstate system. His leadership ensured that both the House Public 
Works Committee Report (H. Rept. 1584) and the Conference Committee 
Report (Conf. Rept. 1799) specifically identified the Tampa/St. 
Petersburg to Miami missing link as the type of route that should be 
approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation from this new 
mileage. President Johnson signed the 1968 Federal Aid Highway Act into 
law late in the summer of that year.
  Bill Cramer managed the floor debate on the 1968 Federal Aid Highway 
bill, which was the capstone of his service on the Public Works 
Committee. During the July 3, 1968 debate on the bill, one of his 
colleagues, Congressman Don Clausen, remarked:
  ``I believe, in all sincerity, that the gentleman from Florida 
(Cramer) is respected by members of the subcommittee as much or 
possibly more than any other Member on either side of the aisle. 
Certainly, no one has been a better student, become more knowledgeable, 
or demonstrated the ability to articulate our road and highway message 
to the Congress or the Nation, than the ranking Republican on the 
Public Works Committee--Bill Cramer. I am sure that future generations 
of Americans will come to appreciate the work he has done and the 
contributions he has made to our nation's road and highway system.''
  In fact, during debate on the bill, Speaker of the House, John 
McCormack, came down from his rostrum to personally congratulate Cramer 
and the Speaker was quoted as saying: ``Bill, this has been one of the 
most statesmanlike presentations that I have observed since coming to 
the Congress.''
  From his position in Congress, Cramer continued thereafter to pursue 
the matter aggressively with the Secretary of Transportation, Alan 
Boyd, until Boyd approved the 252-mile missing link on December 13, 
1968. The approved route ran through Pinellas County (St. Petersburg), 
over the Sunshine Skyway, a toll bridge, and Alligator Alley, a toll 
road across the Everglades, and on to Miami. Florida clearly received 
the lion's share of the additional 1,500 miles authorized, far more 
that any other state, in what the St. Petersburg Times characterized in 
its December 14, 1968 edition as a ``legislative coup'' for Cramer.

  This 252-mile route, however, did not include mileage that Cramer had 
requested bypassing Tampa to the east and connecting with the 
interstate now approved through St. Petersburg and crossing the 
Sunshine Skyway. When Secretary of Transportation John Volpe took over 
under President Nixon (after January 20, 1969), Cramer asked for an 
additional 32 miles for a Tampa Bypass for I-75. It was subsequently 
approved as part of the additional interstate mileage provided for in 
the Howard-Cramer Act passed in January of 1968.
  Construction on the entire 284-mile (I-75 and I-275 St. Petersburg 
bypass) project was completed many years ago and now serves the fast 
growing area of southwest Florida, connecting it with Miami and the 
nation's interstate highway system. Prior to 1967, the State of 
Florida, under Governor Claude Kirk's leadership, was promoting 
constructing the missing link as a toll road. Cramer, however, from his 
influential congressional position championed an interstate route that 
would be free to travelers, and he prevailed.
  Cramer's leadership and tenacity in getting the approval--by Congress 
and two administrations--of Florida's 284-mile missing link is fully 
documented. Designation of a portion of this missing link, I-275 
through his hometown

[[Page E250]]

of St. Petersburg, as the St. Petersburg Parkway/William C. Cramer 
Memorial Highway has appropriately and justly recognized Cramer's life-
long dedication to St. Petersburg and his outstanding leadership in 
helping to build the Nation's interstate highway system. In enacting HB 
9 and HB 385, the Florida Legislature has acknowledged the pivotal role 
that Bill Cramer played in securing authorization and funding for 
Florida's interstate highway missing links that have been so vital to 
the economic well being of St. Petersburg and all of southwest Florida.
  Cramer's congressional district included Pinellas County from 1955 to 
1971, and it also included Hillsborough County from 1955 to 1963, prior 
to redistricting. He was devoted to the goal of including that area and 
the lower west coast of Florida as the first major addition to the 
nation's initial 41,000 mile interstate system. The Howard-Cramer Act 
and the 1968 Federal Aid Highway Act made this a possibility, and 
Cramer's persistence made it a reality.

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